Peschong shares beauty, joy through camera lens

This paid piece is sponsored by Dakota State University.

For Andrew Peschong, photography is all about sharing.

“My core mission is to share the beauty of nature and of people,” he said.

This past year really emphasized that fact for Peschong, a Brandon native.

“We’ve all been so cooped up lately with COVID. and nobody’s getting out,” he said, “so if I can get out and share the joy and the beauty of nature, then it makes me happy, and my job is done.”

His day job, since he graduated from Dakota State University in 2010, has been as a team lead for an IT group at Citibank, but last year, he started a side-hustle photography business. Now, he has decided to try the photography business full time, leaving Citibank in February.

Peschong didn’t start out as a photographer. His dad dabbled in photography, and throughout the years he would tag along with a point-and-shoot camera. “I didn’t know what I was doing, and I didn’t care,” he recalls. But a few years ago, he submitted a photo for the South Dakota Bankers Association calendar, and it was selected.

After that, “people would say to me, ‘I didn’t know you were a photographer,’ and I’d say, ‘I didn’t either.’”

Realizing he might have a gift, he started to take photography classes.

“I really dove into it,” he said.

Shortly after that, he started his photography company, Evermor, and it took off from there.

In addition to the photography education, his computer science degree from Dakota State really helped fine-tune his craft.

Photography is very technical, he said. Cameras are basically small computers, but there is also the editing and post-processing angle. “There’s lots of software to use in photography,” he said.

In fact, with photography, “the learning curve is a wall.”  His computer science expertise “certainly helped navigate and make sense of it all.”

Peschong gravitates toward nature and long-exposures as preferred subjects, such as putting 30-seconds of a waterfall into a single frame. This changes the perspective on how people see an image. “I really love that it makes people look at the world differently.”

Another favorite is sessions with people, such as senior portraits or family photos. He recently did rebranding shots for a friend who is looking for new job opportunities.

“I love that because it gives people confidence,” he said.

Hobbies like photography can provide people with many advantages, from being invigorated by the leisure activity to creating new social connections. The advantage Peschong finds is greater well-being.

He has always been interested in nature through mountain biking, climbing and camping. Recently, he has been reading studies about the benefits of nature.

“It can reduce a person’s fight-or-flight response and increases the parasympathetic activity (recovery and rest response),” he said. “I’m really happy I stumbled into photography (because) I can share it with other people, and they can enjoy those benefits too.”

He recommends people give photography a try, and they don’t need expensive equipment.

“Anybody can grab a point-and-shoot camera or even a cellphone camera and go for a walk and start looking at things and take pictures of it. You’ll be surprised at how differently you’ll see the world and probably how much better you’ll feel. That’s a win-win, for sure.”

View Peschong’s work at his website evermor.online, which includes his portfolio and contact information.